1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a vending machine and, more particularly, is concerned with a coin-operated vending machine provided with anti-theft protection.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One general type of prior art vending machine, that has been manufactured and sold heretofore by the inventor herein, includes a merchandise storage and dispensing head, a housing supporting the head, a coin-actuated mechanism mounted on and extending into the interior of the housing to where the mechanism operably engages the head, and a coin box disposed in the housing below the mechanism for receiving coins from the operation of the coin-actuated mechanism. The housing typically includes an upper body and a lower base. The upper body has an interior compartment and supports the head at an upper open end of the upper body and, in turn, rests on the lower base at a lower open end of the upper body. The lower base is formed of interconnected bottom wall, end walls and side walls and open at a top where it supports the lower open end of the upper body. The coin box is typically housed in the lower base and accessible through one of the end walls by a key-actuated lock.
More particularly, the merchandise storage and dispensing head includes a globe, a hopper and a dispensing wheel. The globe is disposed above the upper open end of the upper body for storing the items of merchandise in the globe. The hopper is attached to and disposed below the globe and supported on the upper open end of the upper body. The dispensing wheel is seated within the hopper so as to underlie the globe and revolve in the hopper to dispense a preset amount of items of the merchandise from the globe, in response to operation of the coin-actuated mechanism, into a dispensing chute typically mounted to and disposed within the upper body below the dispensing wheel and extending to a location at the exterior of the upper body where the preset amount of items can be retrieved by a user.
The coin-actuated mechanism has exposed at the exterior of the upper body a coin deposit slot and a handle accessible for operation by a user. The handle can be rotated when one or more coins of correct denomination, or properly configured tokens, are inserted into the coin deposit slot. Rotation of the handle, in turn, rotates a gear meshing with a toothed edge of the dispensing wheel within the upper body compartment such that rotation of the coin-actuated mechanism causes the dispensing wheel to revolve and dispense merchandise through the dispensing chute. Also, as the coin-actuated mechanism completes its rotation the coin or token is discharged from it into the coin box in the lower base below the upper body compartment.
In this type of vending machine, the head and housing are held together by a central assembly rod which at a lower end bypasses the coin box and is threadably affixed to the bottom wall of the lower base. The central assembly rod extends therefrom upwardly from the lower base through the interior compartment of the upper body and therefrom through the dispensing wheel and the globe to a top cap which seats on and closes an open top of the globe. At such top location of the vending machine, an upper end of the assembly rod is locked into a top key-operated lock that is threaded onto the upper end of the central assembly rod so as to provide sufficient downward force against the top cap to secure together all components of the vending machine between the lower base and the top cap.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,430,746 to Bolen, U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,294 to Householder and U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,075 to Schwarzli disclose coin-operated vending machines generally the same as the general type described above, except that in these vending machines the lower end of the assembly rod is secured to a brace or bridge attached to and extending between opposite wall portions of the housing or lower base thereof above the coin box.
In order to change or replenish merchandise in the globe of the vending machine only the top key-operated lock and the top cap need to be removed, exposing the open top of the globe. However, once the top key-operated lock is released from the upper end of the central rod there is nothing to prevent the removal of the merchandise storage and dispensing head from the upper open end of the upper body of the housing. This can potentially lead to problems in those retail environments where vending machine access is not closely supervised with respect to maintenance of control over who is present or has access to the key for unlocking the top lock during a globe refilling operation. Under such circumstances, a dishonest employee or bystander might be able to temporarily remove the head, then reach downward through the compartment of the upper body to the location of the coin box in the lower base and, without authorization, remove whatever amount of coins that can be quickly grabbed.
As one potential solution to the foregoing problem, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,131,519 and 5,647,471 to Ra disclose, as an original installation or a retrofit, the construction of an internal lock safe or box arrangement within the housing or body of the vending machine which employs a lockable top cover in the form of a flat plate disposed within the housing just below the dispensing wheel, above the coin mechanism, and lockable to a peripheral shelf of the lock box arrangement by a key-operated lock. The lock box arrangement also employs brackets (or a liner) providing the shelf for seating the lockable cover at the top and attached via a base retainer (or bottom plate) to a base plate of the housing at the bottom. Thus, only persons with access to a key to the particular lock device on the lockable top cover of the internal lock box arrangement can remove coins from the interior of the housing below the top cover. The central assembly rod is attached at its lower end on the base plate of the housing and extends upwardly through the lock box arrangement, via a base retainer as well as the top cover, to and through the top cap where by use of the top key-operated lock the central rod is made to fasten together the housing, via its base plate, and the merchandise storage and dispensing head. With the lock box arrangement top cover so locked, an operator can unlock the top lock and remove the head to allow filling of the head with product and then replace it on the housing. Also, the operator can remove a locked coin box-containing housing for later opening of the locked cover by a key operator and replace that housing with an empty housing (having its locked cover in place therein) such that access to the locked coin-box containing housing is provided only to persons with a key to the lock of the top cover, thus minimizing the potential for unauthorized coin removal.
While the internal lock box arrangement of the Ra patents appear to be a step in the right direction toward preventing unauthorized access to coins, this approach forgoes the highly desirable use of a separate coin box lockably and removably installed in the lower base of the housing, as in the above-described general type of vending machine manufactured and sold heretofore by the inventor herein and others. The use of the separate coin box obviates the need to replace the entire vending machine body when filled with coins and so reduces an expensive inventory requirement of maintaining on hand an extra quantity of vending machine bodies just for replacing the entire vending machine body whenever removal of the coins is warranted. Further, the manner in which the edge of the lock cover, opposite from its locked edge, is retained to the housing would appear to render it vulnerable to being pried loose or freed merely by using a screwdriver or the like so as to bypass the protection of the lock.
Consequently, the approach of the Ra patents does not seem to provide an optimum solution for the problem at hand at least with respect to the general type of vending machine described above. Therefore, a need still exists for an approach which will provide a solution to the aforementioned problem in the prior art without introducing any new problems in place thereof.